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THE ROVING EYE
China: We don't do shutdowns
The bumper-to-bumper debt gridlock in Washington leaves no room for US President Barack Obama to pivot to Asia as he is forced to give regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei a miss. That leaves Chinese President Xi Jinping to bask, unrivalled, in center-stage glow. The no-show only reinforces perceptions that US foreign policy is in a mess - and that while the US does shutdowns, China brings cash to the table.
- Pepe Escobar
(Oct 4, '13)
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SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR
Moscow seeks full-spectrum US engagement
An element of the tectonic shift in Syria sees Free Syrian Army "moderates" engage Damascus in jaw, not war, as President Bashar al-Assad emerges as the only figure capable of rolling back the al-Qaeda. The growing strength of groups linked to al-Qaeda puts the US and Russia (and also Iran) on the same page, and presents an opportunity for the Kremlin to build on "common achievements" and focus White House eyes on fronts beyond Syria's civil war.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 4, '13)
 After Syria, what's
next for Obama?
US President Barack Obama - the stealth militarist who was about to wage war in Syria - must now fall from his high horse and become a man of peace. If his "hands off Syria" position slides into a morally vacuous position that more resembles "let them kill each other", it may become the purest expression of Islamophobia yet.
- John Feffer
(Oct 4, '13)
Afghanistan down the memory hole
After 12 years of direct US combat in Afghanistan and 60 years of trying to remake that war-stricken country to serve Washington's aims, Americans have forgotten what it all means - if, that is, they knew in the first place. Weary of official reports of progress, most tuned out long ago. Among other unwanted consequences, the price will feature indelibly on US taxpayers' bills until at least the middle of this century. - Ann Jones
(Oct 4, '13)
How to win a lost war
If you decide to go to war you have to decide to win. The question after Iraq and Afghanistan is what does it mean to win a war? The answer in the 21st century: coming out on top in the political narrative to communicate superiority in the battle space of policy, morality and the conduct of warfare, regardless of the military outcome. - Andreas Herberg-Rothe
(Oct 4, '13)
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Legacy of Pakistani scholar lives on
 After making history at Cambridge University as the first person to take honors there in four degrees in five years, Allama Mashriqi returned to Pakistan in 1913 to found the groundbreaking Islamia College in Peshawar. Still a pillar of Pakistan's education system, the college was a bold forerunner in providing education, particularly to females, in what is still a troubled region today. - Nasim Yousaf
(Oct 4, '13)
No new "Little Red Book" - that's official
 News that a Chinese military scholar is working on a new book of quotes from late supreme leader Mao Zedong quickly brought denials from Beijing that a new version of Mao’s "Little Red Book" is being prepared for the presses. While Chen Yu says his book is merely "scientific research", critics claim the project reflects popular sentiment for the past amid rising social tensions.
- Xi Wang
(Oct 4, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Disturbing discourse in Pakistan
Deadly blasts last week in Peshawar underlined to many Pakistanis that it is Taliban militants holding the nation hostage through constant violence, not the United States as right-wing leaders seem to claim. Politicians advocating expanded dialogue with the Taliban seem ignorant to the militants' historic tendency to use these as a smokescreen for strengthening operations.
- Deedar Hussain Samejo
(Oct 4, '13)
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Lost Cruise fears save Obama on Syria
US President Barack Obama's unexpected reversal on bombing Syria may have followed a Pentagon appraisal that the regime had obtained - through Russian sources - enough satellite jamming devices to divert "smart" missiles. This would have quickly turned a US strike into a humiliating display of weakness, leaving Obama with no option but to send precious fighter-bombers into Damascus's well-equipped air defense system.
- Gregory Sinaisky
(Oct 3, '13)
Korean democracy at a crossroads
The surprise resignation of a South Korean prosecutor following a media witch-hunt critics say was masterminded by the internal intelligence service highlights a revival of a notorious agency President Park Geun-hye had promised to neuter through reform. Unless Park now fulfills those commitments, the shadow of her father's dictatorship will continue to loom over her presidency. - Geoffrey Fattig
(Oct 3, '13)
Pragmatic Rouhani senses limited options
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's measured interaction with the West, his respectable performance at the United Nations and his tweeted well-wishes to the Iranian Jewish minority have sustained expectations for change in his country, even as his actual scope to make changes is limited. Being more a pragmatist than a reformist, he is well aware of that, and of the need to keep the Supreme Leader on his side.
- Shahram Akbarzadeh
(Oct 3, '13)
Mindanao examines rebel siege scars
Using "human shields" for their rebel siege was never going to endear the Moro National Liberation Front to the people of Mindanao. But as the badly scarred Zamboanga City, with over 100,000 displaced people, regroups after last month's sustained attacks, reflection is due on the chain of events that lead to urban warfare in the southern Philippines, beginning with a 1996 peace deal. - Sergio de la Tura
(Oct 2, '13)
Netanyahu pours scorn on Rouhani
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took his turn at the UN General Assembly to dampen euphoria surrounding hopes for detente following Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's reception at the same podium last week. Netanyahu described Rouhani as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and urged the US to keep up the sanctions pressure to "knock out Iran's nuclear weapons program".
- Jim Lobe
(Oct 2, '13)
Abe shoots blanks in New York
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's concern expressed at the United Nations over a rise in China's military budget conveniently ignored that the increase is line with the China's economic expansion. Meanwhile, Japan's defense spending is outstripping national growth as it surges to its highest since the Cold War. Little wonder Beijing responded by pointing to Tokyo's imperial past.
- Brendan P O'Reilly
(Oct 2, '13)
COMMENT
Sisi can't break Egypt-Gaza bonds
The new Egyptian ruler's orders to  destroy tunnels to Gaza and close the Rafah border are particularly painful for Palestinians who have long seen Egypt as the "mother" of Arab nations. Despite what modern regimes in Cairo such as General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi's do to please Washington and Tel Aviv, Palestinians and Egyptians share a historic bond that politics can't break.
- Ramzy Baroud
(Oct 2, '13) |
THE ROVING EYE
Breaking American exceptionalism
What if the US government actually shut down to mourn the passing of Breaking Bad, arguably the most astonishing show in the history of television? It would be nothing short of poetic justice - as Breaking Bad is infinitely more pertinent for the American psyche than predictable cheap shots at Capitol Hill.
- Pepe Escobar
(Oct 1, '13) |
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Manila fails FDI test
The Philippines is the new leader for economic growth among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, yet unlike its neighbors it struggles to attract foreign investment. The reasons: low competitiveness, a poor investing environment, and corruption. - Dan Steinbock
Afghan mineral wealth
offers security or conflict
If Afghanistan's mineral wealth is managed well, the theory goes, it could serve as the backbone of a sustainable economy and stabilize the government. It could as easily exacerbate corruption and become another source of conflict.
- Frud Bezhan
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Z1 and the doves
An economy on firm footing would demonstrate at least a reasonable balance within the real and financial sectors. We instead see ultra-low interest-rates and inflated incomes, corporate cash flows and earnings and a Federal Reserve struggling with even the most timid reduction of monetary inflation.
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
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Why Saudis are
upset with Obama
The Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal used the meeting of the Friends of Syria ministerial forum meeting at New York on Friday to launch an attack on the US-Russian initiative on chemical weapons. He said the initiative should have been followed up with a UN Security Council resolution under Chapter VII.
- M K Bhadrakumar
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